According to Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ medical staff did not want Kristaps Porzingis to play in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He was dealing with a rare and serious leg injury, after all, one we now know will require offseason surgery to repair.

Porzingis didn’t care.

Mazzulla revealed in an interview on the “Pardon My Take” podcast that the Celtics big man overruled Boston’s medical team in order to take the court in Monday night’s championship-clinching win over the Mavericks.

“It was like, we don’t know how long this series is going to go on for, let’s try to save him from himself because he was trying to play,” said Mazzulla, who did not use Porzingis in Game 3 or 4 in Dallas. “So let’s see if we can get through a game or two.

“And then when it was Game 5 at home, it was like, ‘Hey, this might be it. I’ve got to be out there.’ He was like, ‘I’m playing.’ He overrode the medical team and was just like, ‘I’m playing.’ Credit to him.”

Porzingis, who said earlier in the Finals that he’d be willing to “die out there” to be on the floor with his teammates, played 16 minutes in Game 5, tallying five points and one rebound. He was not as impactful as he was before his latest injury — Dallas had few answers for the 7-foot-2 difference-maker in Games 1 and 2 — but Mazzulla said his contributions were vital nonetheless.

The Celtics head coach also said Porzingis would have been available in certain situations in Game 4, including if Boston had a key jump ball in its own end or was on the verge of winning. Neither of those came to pass, as a Mavs blowout extended the series and allowed the C’s to clinch on their home floor.

“If we were winning, I would have put him in the game for a minute or two, just because he sacrificed his whole career to get to this point, and to not be a part of it would have just devastated him,” Mazzulla said of Porzingis, who had never advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs before his trade to Boston last summer. “He had a serious, serious injury and he worked his ass off to get back. And what he brought for us in Game 5 was unbelievable and really led to winning.”

Porzingis also dealt with a calf injury during the playoffs that sidelined him for 10 games. His exact recovery timeline is unclear, but he reportedly is expected to miss several months.

“I gave everything I could,” Porzingis said after Game 5. “And man, it feels great to be a champion.”

Mazzulla thankful for knee tear

Porzingis’ coach was dealing with his own significant injury throughout the Celtics’ playoff run, with Mazzulla sharing after Game 5 that he tore his meniscus following a late-season loss to Atlanta.

Mazzulla offered a deeper explanation of how that happened during his “PMT” appearance, saying his frustration over the defeat caused him to overexert himself during a mixed martial arts training session.

But the notoriously intense coach — who also needs surgery this offseason — said he actually enjoyed the grueling rehab that followed because it heightened his focus.

“Well, listen, that’s what happens when you lose games in the regular season,” Mazzulla said. “You’re just not allowed to lose. So after we lost to Atlanta at home, I just went out on the mats, punished myself and just pounded my body until it couldn’t take any more, and ended up just tearing my knee. It ended up being a great experience for me. I had to do, like, six hours of treatment in order to coach the next game without too much of a limp because I could not walk.

“But I’ll tell you what, it was one of the best things that happened to me for the rest of the season because it put me in this fight or flight mentality to where I could just not relax. Like, I had to constantly train to keep it pain-free, had to constantly get physical therapy. My physical therapist has been great. And it was just awesome. I’ve been thinking about maybe getting hurt every All-Star break.”

Boston never lost to the Hawks at home this season, so Mazzulla likely was referring to one of its back-to-back L’s in Atlanta in late March. The Celtics went 23-5 after those stumbles, including their 16-3 playoff run.

Mazzulla said coaching through pain “just brought a different level of focus that I had to have.”

“Because it’s a bucket handle tear and it would lock and click from time to time, so I had to walk slower,” he said. “I couldn’t move certain ways. So it really forced me to focus more. So I’m actually really grateful that it happened. I miss the mats, though.”

Off the rim

Mazzulla said he and Jayson Tatum watched the Batman-Joker interrogation scene from “The Dark Knight” during a discussion about how the Celtics would handle pressure and expectations from the media. “Batman’s like, ‘Why do you want to kill me,’” Mazzulla said. “And the Joker starts laughing at him. He’s like, ‘I don’t want to kill you. I need you. You complete me.’ It was the coolest moment of, like, good and evil has to coexist. Differences have to coexist in order to bring the best out of each other.” … The Celtics coach channeled his inner Bill Belichick when he noted, multiple times, that all other teams are now ahead of Boston in their preparation for next season. “A week from now,” Mazzulla said, “we’ll be 0-0.”